Ground Rules

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[edit] Assume good faith

Always assume that others on the site are editing in good faith, and be civil and respectful to them. Don't use profanity on the site (including on your username), and maintain a professional tone when appropriate.

If you get into a conflict with someone else on the site, see if there isn't a way to resolve it like adults. If you disagree with this person about an article you're working on, are there perhaps islands of consensus that you can both agree to? Is there a way to reflect both points of view in the article? As a last result, seek mediation - find a neutral administrator or editor to help resolve your dispute. Remember, Wikinvest is a collaborative platform. Play nice with others.

[edit] Sock Puppetry

"Sock puppetry," or creating multiple accounts to simulate support for a certain policy, opinion, or edit, is unethical, and we ask you not to do it. This includes accounts created by bots, multiple accounts created by the same person, and accounts created by friends/other real people for the purpose of artificially bolstering support.

[edit] Three Revert Rule

If another editor reverts your changes to an article, and then you revert his reversion, and then he or she undoes your changes again, and so on... it's not productive.

Don't revert something more than three times in 24 hours. Cool off. If you and the other person disagree about how to write something in an article, are there islands of consensus you can both agree to? See if you can find a way to write things that you can both agree to.

[edit] Forecasting

Don't use the neutral article to make forecasts about a company. This includes predictions on stock price, sales, revenues, earnings, or other operational metrics.

[edit] Public Domain and Copyight

Please don't violate copyright laws. If something is in the public domain, feel free to use it. For instance, it's fine to quote from most published books and periodicals (just be sure to cite your sources correctly at the bottom of each article, according to the Wikinvest style.

Don't include anything which can't be publically verifiable (see verifiability, below. If you have exclusive data or disclosures from a private analyst report, for instance, please don't post it here--the average person does not have access to those private reports, so it can't count as something "in the public domain" or "publically verifiable." However, data published in magazines and in company reports is just fine.

Feel free to use Wikinvest material for other non-commercial purposes. Just let us know when you do it, and please don't forget to credit us in your sources.

[edit] Verifiability

A verifiable statement or article is one whose basic content (especially any dates, quotations, statistics, and other numerical data) has already been published by a reliable source. Non-verifiable content will be removed from Wikinvest. (See below for original research.)

Why is verifiability so important? As an "open wiki" or user-edited site, Wikinvest gains a great deal from the collective knowledge of its contributers. But the openness of Wikinvest also makes it easy for incorrect or inaccurate information to slip by unnoticed. The best way of ensuring that Wikinvest delivers only accurate information is to let others--book editors, magazines, newspapers--do the fact-checking for us, before the new content appears on the site. By using verifiable information, you also boost your own credibility as a writer.

[edit] What is a reliable source?

In general, a reliable source is professionally related to the topic at hand, reputable, and objectively defensible. This includes most books, newspapers, magazines, newsletters, and formal/professional reports. This also includes news websites, company websites, and websites of well-known organizations. Unsourced blog material does not count.

Wikipedia usually counts as "reputable," unless the information is contested by other non-Wikipedia sources. When using Wikipedia, stick to information that is externally sourced.

Don't violate copyright--remember to stick to reliable sources in the public domain!

[edit] Shared Ownership of Articles

Let others make changes to "your" work! Wikinvest is a collaborative effort, and just as you have the right to edit the writing of others, so do others have the right to edit yours. It is great to take a special interest in an article, but don't overdo it. If you think an edit was incorrect, let it sit for a few days before reapproaching it to see if you do want to change things back.

Do not sign articles that you have contributed to--signing is only for discussion and messages. Wikinvest's version of a byline appears in the "Top Contributors" box and in the article's History, where everyone can see who made what change.

[edit] Things to avoid doing and saying

Scenarios

• Minor edits concerning layout, image use, and wording are disputed on a daily basis by one contributor. Contributor states or implies that changes must be reviewed by him/her before they can be added to the article. (This does not include egregious formatting errors.)
• Contributor reverts article changes by others for an extended period of time to protect a certain version. (This does not include removing vandalism.)
• A contributor communicates with other contributors to discourage them from making additional contributions.

Comments

• "Are you qualified to edit this article?"
• "Revert. You're editing too much. Can you slow down?"
• "This is interesting, but you obviously have no real experience with ____."
• "Do not make such changes or comments until you have significantly edited or written work of this quality."
• "I/he/we/ created this article."

[edit] Vandalism

Vandalism is a change made to content that deliberately obstructs Wikinvest's goal of presenting clear, verifiable, unbiased information about companies and investing. The most common types of vandalism include spam, addition of obscenities to pages, page blanking (deleting all the page's content), bad jokes and other nonsense. Vandalism is usually easy to spot.

Any good-faith effort to improve Wikinvest, even if misguided or ill-considered, is not vandalism. For example, adding a personal opinion to a neutral article once is not vandalism - but adding it again and again after having been told that personal opinion is not allowed in the neutral article could be considered vandalism.

People who vandalize repeatedly may find their account deactivated and their IP address blocked from the site.

[edit] Right to Removal

Wikinvest reserves the right to remove immediately and without explanation any material that is deemed inappropriate or that is in violation of the above principles. (Though if you ask us nicely, we will explain.)

[edit] Blocking/Banning

Multiple or exceptional violations of any part of Wikinvest policy can result in suspension or permanent expulsion from the Wikinvest community.